IHGS Correspondence Course

[Tg1tg2tg3]

 :)Hi - I've just completed the IHGS (Intstitute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies) 24 module course, and recently sat the exam for the Higher Certificate.  I would just like to say to anyone contemplating this that I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for in-depth information to either further their own research, or begin a career in Genealogy.  I'm the former, genealogy has been an eye-opener for myself and an experience that I wish I had found years earlier.  I have discovered that, far from my original feelings that my ancestor's must have been on the drab side (I only ever knew my mother and grandmother, who always believed they were staunch Welsh, but were astounded to find out they had Irish and Scottish ancestors).  This through many discoveries via the IHGS course.    In fact, I'd go so far as to say the course has changed my life and having learned so much about my ancestors I now see things in a different light.  Of course, it has its monotonous parts which take some sifting through, but looking at the bigger picture, I am truly thankful I embarked upon it.  The back up and professionalism (not to mention patience in my case) of the staff are excellent.  It took me around 6 years to complete the course (work kept getting in the way) and, thankfully for me, I felt no pressure at all to pick up a module until I felt ready.  So if you are serious about genealogy, I can't recommend this course highly enough.  best regards, Theresa

[Plummiegirl]

Firstly - well done.

It is a shame, about 10 years ago (when I started) many local colleges actually did Family History courses, which were ideal for the starter Family Genealogist.  These over the course of the next year just disappeared.

I am sure that if colleges did more of these short courses (they were very basic, but informative) which lasted about 10 weeks and included a visit to Kew.  More people would be happy to join up. 

 

[Pennie]

I believe that many of the U3A (University of the Third Age) groups around the country run genealogy courses.

[Tg1tg2tg3]

 :)Hi - and thanks for your message.  I do agree with you, there should be more local courses available and I'm very surprised, with the amount of publicity genealogy receives these days, that there aren't.  When I first signed up to the IHGS, it was the only establishment I could find that ran an accredited course.  The reason I signed up was that initially, I was looking for a researcher to do some digging for me in Dublin Archives so I approached the local Dublin library and they sent me a list of researchers.  I asked them "how do I know who to choose?" and they replied "Well, as there aren't any formal qualifications in the subject, its just a matter of pot luck!" - I then started to look around and tried local colleges, the Open University, Sheffield Universities, anywhere I could think of and the IHGS was the only course I could find.  I'll probably be sitting the exam again next year, as I know I made some silly mistakes on the paper, but really do feel I want to do this - for myself. 
Have a fabulous day.  Theresa